You have a baby on the way – maybe your first, maybe your fourth – and you’ve decided cloth diapering is the system for you and you’re considering cloth diapering. Prepare yourself; you are soon going to be bombarded with unsolicited advice and facts, much of which just isn’t true. For some reason, whether people have used cloth diapers or not, everyone has an opinion and everyone has heard a myth they are eager to spread.

With so much information coming at you from every angle, it’s hard to know what is true and what isn’t. Fear not – our blog series, Busting Cloth Diaper Myths, will tackle these myths one by one so you know exactly what you are getting into.

Today’s Myth: “You can’t cloth diaper when you formula feed”

This may not be a common myth, but we’ve heard it a few times — “Wow, you formula feed and use cloth diapers? Brave!” I know that I have said it before, and I will say it again: if you have a good quality, leak-free cloth diaper, nothing else matters. Cloth diapering works as long as you have invested in the best diaper out there.

Complaint: Formula feeding leads to disgusting poop

You must be thinking the same thing as I am — It’s poop, it’s all pretty disgusting, isn’t it? No matter if a baby is breastfed or formula fed, he or she will poop and you will have to clean it up, cloth diaper or disposable. Neither is more desirable than the other — the only thing you will be worried about will be if the mess is contained in the diaper. And remember, disposable diapers are much more prone to blowouts than a good, proper fitting cloth diaper.

Solution: Be prepared with these tips

There is no reason to be afraid that cloth diapering a formula-fed will be too hard. In fact, you will deal with the mess the same you would with a baby who is breastfeeding. A few tips:

Invest in flushable diaper liners

If you are really averse to dealing with poop, diapering in general is not going to be your favorite thing, but flushable liners will make it a bit easier. They are a biodegradable and cheap way to make cloth diaper clean up much easier. You just put the liner in the diaper and then flush it when there’s a mess. Easy! Just make sure to use a wide liner (about 8” or more) to make sure the mess stays contained!

Use a diaper sprayer

Many cloth diapering parents swear by their diaper sprayer, a useful sprayer that attaches to your toilet and makes cleanup easy. Simply spray off a dirty diaper into the toilet after your baby poops and before you put it in your diaper pail.

When all is said and done, poop is poop — it doesn’t matter what your baby ate. It’s never pleasant and it always has to be cleaned up, so why shy away from cloth diapers? There really isn’t a good reason here; in fact, cloth is easier!